Discussion
If you are referring to the corporate entertaining day, driving 8 different cars at Bedford.....I have not done one, but:
I have seen the Palmersport cars when doing track days at Bedford - what you see in the adverts is what you get. Great, new cars, properly maintained. Bedford is a good track, long enough to accommodate plenty of cars without issue, reasonable facilities (food at track days is typical motor racing cafe food, tasty and well cooked, but a long way from London restaurant standard - "Gordon Blue? who did he drive for?").
I couldn't see the price in the adverts. An average track day at Bedford costs me £150-200 for entry in my own car, plus £150 for fuel, and probably another £200+ for tyres and car wear and tear - so say £500-600 in total. And that's in just one car. They are offering you 8.
To judge by the track days, it will be well organized and staffed. The only thing they cannot control is the weather. I have been to Bedford in torrential rain. It made it either interesting or frustrating, depending on your point of view. And the venue is good driving, but it isn't Silverstone or Donnington, so is not as impressive a full race circuit. It's a modernized ex-WW2 bomber airfield in the middle of nowhere, about 8 miles north of Bedford.
I have seen the Palmersport cars when doing track days at Bedford - what you see in the adverts is what you get. Great, new cars, properly maintained. Bedford is a good track, long enough to accommodate plenty of cars without issue, reasonable facilities (food at track days is typical motor racing cafe food, tasty and well cooked, but a long way from London restaurant standard - "Gordon Blue? who did he drive for?").
I couldn't see the price in the adverts. An average track day at Bedford costs me £150-200 for entry in my own car, plus £150 for fuel, and probably another £200+ for tyres and car wear and tear - so say £500-600 in total. And that's in just one car. They are offering you 8.
To judge by the track days, it will be well organized and staffed. The only thing they cannot control is the weather. I have been to Bedford in torrential rain. It made it either interesting or frustrating, depending on your point of view. And the venue is good driving, but it isn't Silverstone or Donnington, so is not as impressive a full race circuit. It's a modernized ex-WW2 bomber airfield in the middle of nowhere, about 8 miles north of Bedford.
I did it on the 17th May this year as a birthday present to myself. I also paid for a professional ride in one of the LMP cars and for collision damage waiver.
Good things; *very* well organised, very little hanging about, the cars all decently maintained, excellent food, instructors very good to excellent - no nonsense about rev limits and such, it was all "power, power, power...!", all the staff helpful, friendly.
"Bad" things; There weren't any, really. We got in the single seaters first, which was unfortunate because there are no instructors & I hadn't really got my driving head on. It would be a bit miserable if it rained all day (it didn't on my day). Spectators are expensive (can't recall how much - my wife elected not to come.) The in-car video they provided is in a proprietary format and hard to post to Youtube!
It was a brilliant day and I enjoyed every minute. I'd recommend any petrol-head to do it at least once in their life.
So, how much was it? £940. Would I do it again? If someone else was paying, like a shot! If I were paying? Probably not. More likely to spend the money on tuition at CAT Driver Training!
Good things; *very* well organised, very little hanging about, the cars all decently maintained, excellent food, instructors very good to excellent - no nonsense about rev limits and such, it was all "power, power, power...!", all the staff helpful, friendly.
"Bad" things; There weren't any, really. We got in the single seaters first, which was unfortunate because there are no instructors & I hadn't really got my driving head on. It would be a bit miserable if it rained all day (it didn't on my day). Spectators are expensive (can't recall how much - my wife elected not to come.) The in-car video they provided is in a proprietary format and hard to post to Youtube!
It was a brilliant day and I enjoyed every minute. I'd recommend any petrol-head to do it at least once in their life.
So, how much was it? £940. Would I do it again? If someone else was paying, like a shot! If I were paying? Probably not. More likely to spend the money on tuition at CAT Driver Training!
I echo the general consensus above really in that it really is a step above any other so called driving experience. it depends what you are after really, if you just want to say you have driven a Lambo or Ferrari then by all means do an experience day but note they wont let you drive it anywhere nr its limits, i got told off at Thruxton for driving a Gallardo too quick and then got told i could only use gears 4-6! the instructors will push you hard at JP, and the cars there are all designed for track use, it's a full day of hospitality and you really feel you get your money's worth. the supercar experience was like £250 and was over in a flash and i felt really empty after.
Hey chaps,
Long time casual PH lurker but thought I'd add a couple of penneth finally as it might help somebody else!
I've been wanting to go on one of these PalmerSport days since my old man came back from one well over a decade ago. I've been lucky enough to get on various red letter experiences, the VXR days, the single seater at Silverstone, karting and plenty of online driving courtesy of iRacing but finally we're going as a company on Saturday.
Excited is an understatement, but I'm not posting just to gloat (although maybe a bit!)...I thought anyone reading this might like to know the 'West' track (the one where they run the FPJ and FP-LM) is available on rFactor 1.
I grabbed a copy last night and was having a blast learning the track in Ricciardo's old F3 car
.
Links here if you want them (rFactor's available via a quick Google search)
Bedford Autodrome - http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=Bedfor...
British F3 mod - http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=Britis...
As for the North and South circuits, well I'm going to be in the same boat as everyone else and armed only with YouTube knowledge - I just don't think I have the mental capacity to memorise the lot!
It's going to be a long day in the office...
Long time casual PH lurker but thought I'd add a couple of penneth finally as it might help somebody else!
I've been wanting to go on one of these PalmerSport days since my old man came back from one well over a decade ago. I've been lucky enough to get on various red letter experiences, the VXR days, the single seater at Silverstone, karting and plenty of online driving courtesy of iRacing but finally we're going as a company on Saturday.
Excited is an understatement, but I'm not posting just to gloat (although maybe a bit!)...I thought anyone reading this might like to know the 'West' track (the one where they run the FPJ and FP-LM) is available on rFactor 1.
I grabbed a copy last night and was having a blast learning the track in Ricciardo's old F3 car
. Links here if you want them (rFactor's available via a quick Google search)
Bedford Autodrome - http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=Bedfor...
British F3 mod - http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cfm?ID=Britis...
As for the North and South circuits, well I'm going to be in the same boat as everyone else and armed only with YouTube knowledge - I just don't think I have the mental capacity to memorise the lot!
It's going to be a long day in the office...
I did this with a previous company a few years ago. Absolutely the best driving experience you can buy. The thing that makes it are the instructors. They are there to encourage you and help drive as fast as you can. You drive the different cars on different tracks which suit the characteristics of the car. The only bad thing was it ended.
Hopefully you will get to drive the LMPesque car before the single seater. Pay attention to the line and the gear changes as the single seater is almost identical. I was always one gear too low during my single seater stint :-)
Brilliant day
Hopefully you will get to drive the LMPesque car before the single seater. Pay attention to the line and the gear changes as the single seater is almost identical. I was always one gear too low during my single seater stint :-)
Brilliant day
Very good mate of mine did this a few years ago as a corporate client and had nothing but praise. However, the downside was he became quite effusive about the XKR and was on the verge of buying one. I reminded him that he wasn't fifty yet and thankfully he bought a Cerbera instead. If he hadn't I would never have bought mine, so that was a bit of a close run thing.
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